RESUMPTION  OF  SPECIE  PAYMENTS 


1819—1823. 


A  LESSON  AND  A  WARNING  TO  THE  PEOPLE  OF  THE 
UNITED  STATES. 


t 


BY 


HENRY  CAREY  BAIRD. 


Money  should  be  a  thing  of,  or  belonging  to,  a  country,  not  of 
or  belonging  to  the  world. 

An  exportable  commodity  is  not  fitted  to  be  Money,  and  no¬ 
thing  could  be  more  monstrous  than  England’s  principle — followed 
by  the  United  States  up  to  the  war — her  legislation  forcing  her 
people  to  be  buyers  of  gold,  and  making  their  possession  of  gold — 
one  of  the  scarcest  articles  in  the  world — the  condition  of  their 
being  able  to  furnish  themselves  with  food  and  clothing. 


Hon.  Isaac  Buchanan,  of  Canada. 


PHILADELPHIA: 

COLLINS,  PRINTER,  705  JAYNE  STREET. 

im. 


RESUMPTION  OF  SPECIE  PAYMENTS  IN  ENGLAND. 


The  President  of  the  United  States  having  officially  proclaimed  to 
the  world,  that,  in  his  opinion,  paper  money — the  United  States  legal 
tender  note — “is  nothing  more  than  promises  to  pay,  and  is  valuable 
exactly  in  proportion  to  the  amount  of  coin  that  it  can  be  converted 
into,”  and  having  also  earnestly  recommended  to  Congress  that  it 
shall  enact  “  such  legislation  as  will  insure  a  gradual  return  to  specie 
payments,”  it  would  seem  in  the  highest  degree  desirable  that  the 
people  should  be  made  to  realize  what  “  a  return  to  a  specie  basis” 
involves,  and  what  it  is  likely  to  cost  them. 

Almost  from  the  hour  in  which  the  war  closed  in  1865,  and  when 
the  country  was  bleeding  at  every  pore,  and  the  southern  portion  of  it 
was  almost  wholly  ruined,*  the  nation  was  called  upon  by  the  then 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  Hon.  Hugh  McCulloch,  to  conform  itself 
in  practice  to  the  theories  which  he  happened  then  to  hold.  Had  he 
not  been  stopped  by  Congress  in  mid-career  of  his  contraction 
policy  in  1868,  he  would  long  ere  this  have  inevitably  caused  the 
complete  bankruptcy  of  the  country  and  of  the  national  treasury. 
Notwithstanding  this  fortunate  interposition  of  Congress,  the  uniform 
policy  of  the  Treasury  Department  from  April,  1865,  to  the  present 
time,  has  been  that  of  looking  to  the  “  specie  basis”  goal,  and  obliging 
the  people  to  square  their  affairs  in  accordance  with  this  scheme  of 
finance.  To  this  basis,  we  are  now,  in  the  midst  of  ruin  and  distress 
further  invited  by  the  President,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  it  has 
always  and  everywhere  proven  to  be  as  unstable  as  the  sands  of  the 
sea-shore,  and  with  a  superstructure  many  times  greater  than  itself, 
it  has  almost  always  been  a  mere  pretence  and  a  fraud.  Indeed, 
if  the  President’s  own  doctrine  were  true,  notes  resting  upon  this 
basis,  and  “  valuable  exactly  in  proportion  to  the  amount  of  coin 
that  they  can  be  converted  into,”  would  usually  be  worth  but  from 
12^  to  25  cents  on  the  dollar,  f  But  the  President  unduly  magnifies 
the  importance  of  the  precious  metals,  the  great  power  of  which 
comes  not  of  any  inherent  and  natural  qualities  but  of  their  being 
made  by  governments  “  a  basis”  for  all  of  the  business  and  financial 

*  Sad  to  say,  it  is  far  worse  off  now,  mainly  owing  to  tlie  mismanagement 
of  the  currency  of  the  country. 

f  An  official  statement  of  the  condition  of  the  Banks  of  Massachusetts 
shows  that  between  1825  and  1838  theVproportion  which  the  “basis”  bore  to 


3 

affairs  of  their  countrymen,  and  a  legal  tender  for  the  payment  of 
debts.* 

While  the  President  greatly  exaggerates  the  virtues  of  specie,  it  is, 
on  the  other  hand,  quite  impossible  for  any  one  to  exaggerate  the 
ruin  which  will  result  from  any  legislative  attempt  whatsoever  to 
force  the  country  to  place  itself  and  its  affairs  upon  this  ticklish 
“  basis.”  Fortunately  for  us,  it  is  not  now  necessary  that  we  should 
try  the  experimentum  crucis  for  ourselves,  it  having  been  tried  by 
Great  Britain  between  1815  and  18^3,  with  such  results  that  any 
tyro  may  read  the  story  and  learn  the  lesson  as  fully  and  completely 
as  even  a  President  of  the  United  States. 

Great  Britain  in  1793  and  1797. 

In  1793  the  British  Government  under  the  leadership  of  William 
Pitt  declared  war  against  France,  and  by  the  27th  of  February,  1797, 

the  superstructure  varied  between  one  to  four  and  one  to  eight  and  three 
quarters ,  as  follows  : — 


Year. 

Paper. 

Specie. 

Year. 

Paper. 

Specie. 

1825  . 

•  6xo 

to 

1 

1833  . 

•  8| 

to 

1 

1826  . 

•  2t 

to 

1 

1834  . 

•  H 

to 

1 

1827  . 

•  4f 

to 

1 

1835  . 

.  8} 

to 

1 

1828  . 

.  6* 

to 

1 

1836  . 

•  H 

to 

1 

1829  . 

• 

.  5 

to 

1 

1837  . 

•  6| 

to 

1 

1830  . 

• 

4 

to 

1 

1838,  Feb.  . 

.  5* 

to 

1 

1831  . 

• 

.  8^ 

to 

1 

1838,  Oct.  . 

.  4 

to 

1 

1832  . 

.  8 

to 

1 

How  could  anything  but  instability  and  insecurity  come  from  such  a 
system?  Do  not  the  ever  varying  and  disproportionate  relations  of  these 
figures  alike  utterly  condemn  the  system  which  could  produce  them  ? 

*  That  this  is  so,  is  proven  by  the  results  of  the  demonetization,  to  a  large 
extent,  of  silver  in  Germany,  and  the  caution  which  the  government  has  now 
to  exercise  in  disposing  of  the  demonetized  silver*to  prevent  its  sacrifice. 
This  caution  it  has  practised  in  spite  of  the  attempts  of  “the  radical  gold 
ultras,”  as  they  are  called,  to  force  its  sale  at  any  price,  it  being  “  evident  that 
it  is  necessary,”  says  a  German  correspondent  of  the  London  Economist ,  “for 
the  Government  to  sell  as  much  of  our  superfluous  .silver  as  can  be  got  rid  of  at 
tolerable  prices,  and  you  know  best  how  very  small  hitherto  the  sales  have 
been.” 

The  forlorn  condition  of  this  precious  metal  when  it  shall  have  lost  the 
governmental  prop  throughout  the  world,  is  thus  depicted  by  Paul  Leroy 
Beaulieu,  in  a  recent  number  of  the  Economiste  Frangais ,  who  says:  “When 
the  substitution  of  a  gold  for  a  silver  currency  in  Germany  is  completed, 
there  will  remain,  after  due  provision  is  made  for  subsidiary  coins,  a  total  of 
£48,000,000  worth  of  silver,  the  whole  of  which  will  be  thrown  upon  the  mar¬ 
ket.  But  this  is  not  all.  Denmark,  Sweden,  and  Holland  have  decided  to 
adopt  a  gold  standard,  and  the  same  course  will  probably  be  followed  by 
Belgium.  In  these  countries  the  quantity  of  silver  to  be  disposed  of  in  conse¬ 
quence  of  the  demonetizing  of  that  metal  will  be  not  less  than  £24,000,000. 
Thus  we  have  a  total  of  £72,000,000  of  silver,  which,  before  very  long,  will  be 
thrown  on  the  market.  The  effect  of  this  increase  in  the  supply  cannot  fail  to 
have  great  influence  in  the  direction  of  a  further  fall  in  the  price  of  silver. 
Moreover  the  ancient  and  characteristic  predilection  of  the  Oriental  countries 
for  silver — of  which  they  have  hitherto  taken  great  quantities  from  Europe — 
is  growing  weaker,  and  hence  the  most  intelligent  of  them,  the  Japanese,  have 
adopted  a  gold  currency.  We  cannot  then  reckon  upon  the  great  Eastern 
nations  absorbing  the  enormous  quantity  of  silver  which  is  about  to  be  thrown 
out  of  circulation  in  Europe.  So  far,  therefore,  it  seems  likely  that  the  de¬ 
preciation  of  silver  must  go  on  indefinitely.” 

Our  own  crisis  in  1873  proved  the  power  of  the  quality  of  acceptability 


r 


4 


the  condition  of  the  Bank  of  England  had  become  such  that  it  found 
itself  under  the  necessity  of  suspending  specie  payments,  and  the 
government  interposed  its  so-called  “  restriction”  upon  the  Bank  from 
paying  any  more  gold  or  silver.  Mr.  Pitt  subsequently  obtained  the 
passage  of  an  Act  of  Parliament  authorizing  the  restriction  to  con¬ 
tinue  to  June  24,  before  which  time  a  new  act  was  passed  continuing 
.the  suspension,  and  subsequently  numerous  other  acts  were  had 
postponing  it  from  time  to  time,  until  in  1819,  when  “  Peel’s  Currency 
Bill”  was  enacted,  providing  fof  complete  resumption  of  cash  payments 
by  the  Bank  on  May  1,  1823.  Be  it  observed,  too,  that  the  Govern¬ 
ment  and  the  Bank  were  driven  to  these  expedients  notwithstanding 
the  fact  that,  while,  with  the  enormous  outlays,  incident  to  maintain¬ 
ing  large  .armies  on  the  continent,  large  fleets  on  the  ocean,  and  other 
measures,  calling  for  the  export  of  gold  and  silver  in  large  quantities, 
she  was,  owing  to  the  extraordinary  development  of  her  diversified 
industries,  enabled  to  draw  from  the  rest  of  the  world,  the  precious 
metals  to  perhaps  as  great  or  even  a  greater  amount  than  that  de¬ 
manded  by  these  foreign  expenditures.  It  actually  appeared  in  evi¬ 
dence  before  the  bullion  committee  in  1810,  that  from  1805  to  1809 
inclusive,  the  balance  of  trade  in  favor  of  England  had  amounted  to 
£50,000,000,  or  nearly  $250,000,000.  At  or  about  the  time  of  the 
overthrow  of  Napoleon  at  Waterloo,  June  18,  1815,  the  circulation 
of  the  Bank  of  England  was  £27,000,000,  while  that  of  the  country 
banks  was  estimated  at  about  an  equal  amount,  making  a  total  circu¬ 
lation  of  £54,000,000. 

The  premium  on  gold  in  the  under-mentioned  years  was  as  follows : — 


1814  ....  30£  p.  c. 

1815  .  .  .  .  18|  “ 

1816  .  .  .  .  “ 

1816  Oct.  to  Dec.  under  1  “ 


1817  . 

1818  . 

1819  . 

1820  and  1821 


2 k  P-  c. 
5  “ 

6*  “ 
par. 


The  commercial  paper  under  discount  at  the  Bank  of  England  was 
as  follows : — 


1815  . 

£14,917,000 

1820  . 

£3,883,600 

1816  . 

11,416,400 

1821  . 

2,676,700 

1817  . 

3,960,600 

1822  . 

3,366,700 

1818  . 

4,325,200 

1823  . 

3,123,809 

1819  . 

6,515,000 

1824  . 

2,369,800 

The  results  of  such  a  selfish  and  cruel  policy  as  is  here  exhibited 
in  regard  to  contraction  of  loans,  together  with  contraction  of  the 


for  the  payment  of  debts,  by  the  heavy  decline  in  United  States  bonds  and 
gold,  and  even  the  willingness  of  parties  to  dispose  of  bonds  previously 
at  a  large  premium,  to  the  government,  at  par  for  currency.  During  those 
dreadful  days  the  power  of  this  quality  was  exhibited  in  a  marked  manner 
in  the  almost  frantic  efforts  to  obtain  control  of  bank  credits,  resembling 
those  of  the  Bank  of  Venice,  not  even  payable  in  “promises,”  but  merely 
transferable  through  bank  clearing  houses.  At  this  hour  live  dollars  worth 
of  merchandise  are  seeking  purchasers  for  every  dollar  of  “  paper  promises 
to  pay”  which  is  being  offered  in  exchange  for  commodities.  The  value  of 
these  “  promises,”  in  the  eyes  of  those  who  seek  them,  arises  not  from  the 
‘‘amount  of  coin  they  can  be  converted  into,”  but  from  the  fact  that  they 
will  be  gladly  accepted  in  exchange  for  commodities  and  in  payment  of 
debts. 


5 


circulation  of  the  Bank  from  £27, 261, 650  in  1815,  to  £18,176,470  in 
1823,  were  quite  what  they  might  have  been  expected  to  be.  The 
story  shall  be  told  by  Thomas  Doubleday,  Esq.,  a  bullionist  of  the 
strictest  stamp,  but' not  one  who  cOuld  approve  of  such  measures  of 
confiscation  as  were  practised  upon  his  countrymen  between  1815 
and  1823.  I  quote  from  Doubleday’s  Financial,  Monetary,  and 
Statistical  History  of  England,  (London,  1847,  p.  238,  et  infra,) 
as  follows  : — 


Great  Britain  in  1815. 

“Hardly  had  the  echoes  of  the  cannon  of  Waterloo  died  into  silence, 
when  it  began  to  be  felt  that  this  state  could  not  continue  longer.  That 
monopoly  of  supply  which  the  extraordinary  circumstances  of  the  war 
had  thrown  into  the  hands  of  Great  Britain  began  forthwith  to  fall  to 
pieces.  The  seas  were  now  equally  open  to  all.  The  colonies  which, 
during  the  long  period  of  hostilities,  had  been  wrested  from  the  French, 
Spaniards,  and  Dutch,  wrere  now  for  the  most  part  to  be  restored.  We 
could  not  hold  them  in  peace.  Thenceforward  the  European  nations  were# 
not  only  independent  of  us  as  to  colonial  produce,  but,  freed  from  the  rav¬ 
ages  of  war  and  the  obstacles  of  blockades,  they  began  to  manufacture 
for  themselves.  The  woollens  of  Saxony  and  the  Merino  fleeces  of  Spain 
began  to  be  felt  clogging  the  wheels  of  our  machinery.  That  machinery, 
despite  of  penalties  and  prohibitions,  in  due  time  found  its  way  across  the 
narrow  seas,  up  the  Baltic,  and  beyond  the  broad  Atlantic.  Russia  es¬ 
tablished  the  cotton  manufacture.  The  United  States  did  the  same.  The 
coal  of  Belgium  began  to  work  steam  engines  and  mechanism  unknown 
before.  With  all  this,  the  expenditure  of  the  government  at  home  for 
warlike  stores,  recruits,  commissariats,  and  transport-ships  suddenly  ceased. 
Prices  fell,  on  a  sudden,  to  a  ruinous  extent — banks-  broke — wages  fell 
•  with  the  prices  of  manufactures  ;  and  before  the  year  1816  had  come  to  a 
close,  panic,  bankruptcy,  riot,  and  disaffection  had  spread  through  the 
land.  Vast  bodies  of  starving  and  discontented  artisans  now  congregated 
together,  demanding  a  reform  of  the  parliament,  a  repeal  of  the  corn-laws, 
and  a  reduction  of  taxation.  The  discontents,  the  government,  as  usual, 
put  down  by  an  armed  force,  who  with  the  constitution  in  their  mouths, 
sabred  the  people  d  la  Gossaque.  The  commercial  distress  they  ascribed 
to  ‘  the  transition  from  war  to  peace  and  contented  themselves  with  the 
application  of  some  palliatives,  in  the  shape  of  advances  of  money  and 
Exchequer  bills,  through  the  Bank,  hoping  that  affairs  would  gradually 
come  round  to  a  settled  state.  In  this  they  were,  after  a  time,  partly 
gratified.  The  mercantile  part  of  the  community  accommodated  them¬ 
selves  gradually,  perforce,  to  the  new  scale  of  prices  after  a  ‘  transition,’ 
which,  in  its  progress  through  1814,  1815,  and  1816,  rendered  bankrupt 
no  less  than  eighty-nine  country  hanks ,  together  with  an  enormous  number 
of  traders  of  all  grades  and  descriptions.” 


The  Bank  of  England. 

“  In  the  midst  of  this  turmoil,  another  grand  cause  of  confusion  remains 
to  be  mentioned  ;  and  this  was  the  new  and  ticklish  position  of  the 
grandam  of  so  many  years  of  villany  and  egregious  folly,  to  wit,  of  the 
‘Old  Lady  of  Threadneedle  Street,’  as  she  now  began  to  be  called ;  that 
is  to  say,  of  the  Bank  itself.  The  reader  will  remember  that  throughout 
the  various  times  when  the  acts  for  continuing  Pitt’s  ‘  Bank-restriction’ 
were  to  be  renewed  or  altered,  one  clause  was  always  retained,  and  that 
was  the  clause  binding  the  Bank  to  ‘  resume  cash  payments1  within  a  few 
mouths  after  peace  should  come.  It  has  been  asserted  that  Pitt  never 


0 


meant  this  clause  to  be  enforced,  at  least  as  far  as  regarded  the  fund- 
holders  ;  and  that  he  intimated  as  much  in  Parliament  on  one  occasion. 
This  may  possibly  be  true  ;  but  the  clause,  nevertheless,  was  adhered  to; 
so  that,  before  the  Waterloo  bonfires  were  well  out,  the  Bank  Directors, 
with  this  clause  staring  them  in  the  face,  began  to  bethink  themselves, 
how  they  might  most  quickly  lessen  the  enormous  bales  of  their  paper 
that  were  afloat,  so  as  to  give  them  some  chance  of  paying  the  remainder 
in  gold  and  silver  ‘  on  demand.’  This  was  a  new  feature.  During  former 
revulsions,  such  as  that  in  1810,  caused  by  the  decrees  of  Bonaparte 
against  the  admission  of  British  goods,  the  Bank  had  come  promptly  for¬ 
ward  with  loans  and  discounts  to  relieve  the  pressure.  Now,  however,  the 
Directors  scarcely  dared  to  move  an  inch.  They  knew  that  ‘  the  political 
economists’  were  strong  in  the  House,  and  that  they  were  bent  upon  cash 
payments,  at  all  risks.  They  knew  that  the  Jews  of  Change  Alley  would 
secretly  abet  the  same  doctrine.  Against  a  combination  of  usurers  and 
theorists,  one  set  all  selfishness,  the  other  all  crotchets,  there  was  no  de¬ 
fence  to  be  made.*  The  country  gentlemen,  who  were  the  dupes  of  the 
economists,  were  led  to  believe  that  cash  payments  were  necessary  for 
both  the  interest  and  security  of  themselves.  Those  who  had  the  power 
.were  resolved,  and  nothing  was  left  to  the  Bank  but  to  narrow  its  issues, 
and  look  about  for  gold  and  silver  wherewith  to  meet  the  storm.  This 
was  altogether  a  difficult  business.  In  the  year  1816  alone,  thirty-seven 
Country  Banks  had  become  bankrupt.  The  commercial  world,  therefore, 
required  additional  propping.  But  the  Government  wras  in  the  same  di¬ 
lemma  ;  and  to  it  the  merchants  were  sacrificed.  Between  February  and 
August,  1816,  the  Directors  lessened  their  discounts  from  twenty-three 
millions  to  eleven  millions  ;  and  before  February,  1817,  to  eight  millions ; 
and  before  August  of  the  same  year  to  seven  millions  ;  whilst  up  to  nearly 
the  same  period,  they  held  of  Exchequer-bills,  etc.,  twenty-five  millions  ! 
This  reduction  of  private  discounts  answered  two  purposes  of  the  Bank  : 
it  kept  their  circulation  within  bounds  ;  and,  if  it  slaughtered  the  mer¬ 
chants  and  manufacturers,  it  brought  about  another  novelty,  viz.,  a  reduc-  # 
tion  in  the  price  of  gold  down  to  four  pounds  the  ounce  ;  or  nearly  to 
the  mint-price  !  This  enabled  them  to  get  gold  on  easier  terms,  and  to 
make  a  flourish,  by  the  voluntary  issue  of  a  large  sum  in  sovereigns;  a 
measure  absurd  and  premature  to  the  last  degree,  for  by  this  addition 
thrown  into  the  currency,  the  prices  of  gold  and  silver  bullion  were  again 
raised  a  little,  and  the  whole  of  this  new  coin  was  exported  ! 

“This  reduction  of  the  Bank  issues,  and  destruction  and  crippling  of 
the  Country  Banks,  had  another  and  still  more  important  effect,  inasmuch 
as  by  causing  the  price  of  gold  to  fall  to  nearly  the  mint-price,  it  en¬ 
couraged  the  political  economists  to  press  forward,  and,  at  last,  in  1819,  to 
pass  an  act,  the  most  important  in  its  consequences,  and  extraordinary  in 
its  circumstances,  that  ever  was  decided  upon  by  any  legislature,  in  any 
age  or  country.  This  was  the  celebrated  Bill  ‘  for  the  Restoration  of 
Cash  Payments,’  passed  in  1819,  and  since  famous  as  ;  Peel’s  Currency 
Bill.’  ” 

Peel’s  Currency  Bill  of  1819. 

“The  Currency  bill  of  1819  was  passed  at  the  instance  of  a  committee, 
amongst  the  members  of  whom  were  included  all  the  parliamentary  dab¬ 
blers  in  political  economy  of  any  name  or  talent,  and  of  whom  Peel  was 
chairman.  Horner,  the  chairman  of  the  bullion  committee  of  1810,  was 

*  How  history  repeats  itself,  and  how  this  story  reads  like  a  chronicle  of 
events  of  which  we  are  now  in  the  midst!  To  the  credit  of  the  Jews,  how¬ 
ever,  it  may  be  said,  that  they  have  not  at  this  time  as  a  class  arrayed  them¬ 
selves  against  the  people.  H.  C.  B. 


7 


dead;  but,  in  bis  stead,  they  bad  Ricardo,  a  rich  Jew  stock-jobber,  who 
having  made  an  immense  fortune  by  this  worst  species  of  gambling,  had 
also  contrived  to  obtain  a  reputation  by  the  publication  of  some  books  on 
political  economy  ;  ingenious  in  argument,  but,  in  many  points,  of  very 
questionable  soundness  ;  and  frequently  substituting  an  elaborate  super¬ 
ficiality  for  wisdom  and  depth  of  reflection.  Backed  by  the  authority  of 
this  rich  and  arrogant  man,  the  economists  obtained  on  this  occasion  an 
almost  entire  command  of  the  House  of  Commons.  The  ministry  were 
led  into  the  snare,  with  open  eyes  indeed,  but,  like  somnambulists,  with 
eyes  of  which  ‘  the  sense  is  shut.’  They  selected  a  young  member  of  their 
own  body,  Mr.  Peel,  to  bring  the  bill  for  the  restoration  of  cash  payments 
before  the  House  of  Commons  ;  and  hence  the  bill,  much  to  his  detriment, 
has  borne  his  name.  It  is  only  justice  to  say  that  to  Mr.  Peel,  now  Sir 
Robert  Peel,  the  obloquy  of  this  greatest  blunder  that  ever  legislature 
committed,  ought  not  to  be  given.  He  was  but  the  mouth-piece,  and  the 
ignorant  mouth-piece,  of  an  ignorant  and  blundering  Plouse  of  Commons, 
led  by  the  nose  by  a  self-conceited  but  shallow  junta  of  theorists.  He 
was  pitched  upon  for  this  unfortunate  service,  merely  because  he  was  a 
young  man  of  aspiring  pretensions,  vast  wealth,  and  of  that  sort  of  me¬ 
diocre,  but  well-cultivated  and  accommodating  talent,  which  recommends 
its  possessor  as  likely  to  do  what  is  expected  to  pass  for  a  brilliant  thing 
cleverly  and  showily.  The  fact  was,  the  whole  debate  on  this  bill  was  a 
laughable  farce.  The  mind  of  nearly  every  man  in  both  Houses  was  made 
up  to  support  this  measure.  That  the  finger  of  Providence  was  mani¬ 
festly  in  it,  I  cannot  doubt,  until  I  doubt  whether  there  be  a  Providence. 
Quos  Deus  vult  perdere,  prius  dementat  !  The  Houses  made  the  plunge 
with  one  accord.  There  was  hardly  the  semblance  of  an  opposition. 
Ricardo  had  the  enormous  folly  to  tell  the  House  that  the  bill  was  ‘  not 
worthy  of  half  an  hour  of  even  their  consideration  and  assured  them 
that  the  whole  question  was  one  of  ‘three  per  cent. this  being  the  extent 
of  the  fall  of  prices,  which  this  man  calculated  would  take  place,  after  all 
the  one  and  two-pound  notes  in  the  kingdom  were  burned,  and  the  re¬ 
mainder,  of  five  pounds  and  upwards,  made  ‘payable  on  demand  in  gold 
sovereigns,  coined  from  metal  worth  three  pounds,  seventeen  shillings,  and 
tenpence  halfpenny  the  ounce  V 

“  In  short,  there  was  only  one  man  in  the  Commons  who  really  understood 
and  opposed  the  measure,  and  this  man  was  Mr.  Matthias  Attwood.  The 
Bank  Directors  had  indeed  said,  they  ‘  feared  the  country  could  not  bear 
'the  measure/  but  they  dared  not  oppose  it ;  and  Mr.  Attwood  was  pre¬ 
vailed  upon  to  quit  the  House  that  the  vote  might  be  ‘  unanimous  !’  In 
the  House  of  Lords,  Lord  Grey  alone  ventured  to  dissent  from  the  measure ; 
but  he  only  ‘  washed  his  hands  of  it/  as  Pontius  Pilate  did  before  him, 
suffering  the  deed  to  be  done,  and  drily  saying,  ‘he  hoped  it  would  pro¬ 
duce  the  consequences  which  their  lordships  expected  from  it  /  a  signifi¬ 
cant  sentence,  and  one  of  which  their  lordships  must  have,  since  that  time, 
often  thought !  The  Houses,  however,  for  once,  ‘  were  all  in  one  aq^ord.’ 
The  Speaker  and  the  Prince  Regent  congratulated  each  other  on  the  com¬ 
pletion  of  this  monument  of  the  legislative  wisdom  of  the  empire ;  and 
‘  the  question  of  cash  payments’  was,  in  the  flippant  phrase  of  Mr.  Can¬ 
ning,  ‘  set  at  rest  forever’ ! 

“  As  a  bit  of  legislation,  this  ever-memorable  act  is  remarkably  brief, 
and  to  the  point  $  consisting  only  of  thirteen  not  very  long  nor  wordy 
clauses.  It  repeals,  in  the  first  place,  all  the  acts  for  restraining  the  Bank 
from  paying  its  creditors,  which  had  been  passed  frqm  1797  up  to  that 
time,  the  repeal  going  into  effect  ‘  from  and  after  the  first  day  of  May, 
1823.’  This  was  a  repeal  of  all  Bank  notes  on  demand  for  sums  less  than 
five  pounds.  It  then  provides  for  a  gradual  return,  in  the  mean  time,  by 
the  Bank  to  cash  payments  ;  beginning  with  an  issue  of  gold  at  four 
pounds  one  shilling  the  ounce,  in  1820,  and  ending  with  the  standard  mint- 


8 


price  of  £3  17s.  10|cL  The  concluding  clauses  repeal  all  the  old  statutes 
against  the  melting  and  exportation  of  coin  or  plate,  and  repeal  also  the 
oath  required  from  exporters  of  bullion,  that  it  was  not  melted  plate  or 
coin,  or  clippings  of  coin,  as  far  as  relates  to  the  melting  portion,  retain¬ 
ing  only  the  portion  that  applies  to  clippings  of  the  coin  of  the  realm. 
It  also  required  that  the  Bank  should  publish  every  quarter,  until  May, 
1823,  an  account  of  its  average  circulation,  for  the  benefit  of  the  lieges 
who  might  doubt  as  to  the  prudence  with  which  its  affairs  were  conducted, 
an  arbitrary  and  questionable  step,  but  which  was  afterwards  extended 
much  further,  on  a  subsequent  occasion. 

“  This  was  the  substance  of  the  celebrated  bill  to  which  the  name  of 
‘  Feel’  has,  unfortunately  for  his  reputation,  been  wedded,  after  a  fashion 
that  admits  of  no  divorce  in  future  time.  By  all,  except  the  few  minutely 
acquainted  with  its  history,  he  will  be  believed  to  be  the  originator  and 
framer  of  an  act  which,  if,  as  is  too  probable,  not  only  the  present  system, 
but  the  present  form  of  government,  be  doomed  to  be  in  no  long  time 
swept  away,  will  be  found  to  have,  been  one  of  the  grand  preparatory 
causes  of  the  catastrophe.  That  Sir  Robert  Peel  is,  partly  at  least,  of  the 
same  opinion,  seems  evident  in  the  attempts  which  he  has  so  often  made 
to  shake  off  his  reputation  for  its  exclusive  authorship,  and  to  place  the 
onus  of  the  deed  upon  the  rightful  shoulders.  For  these  attempts  no  man 
of  common  sense  can  blame  him,  and  the  only  objection  to  them  is  that 
they  must  be  fruitless  as  to  the  result  which  he  so  palpably  desires. 

\ 

The  Ruinous  Fruits  Gathered  in  1822-23. 

“  When  the  two  Houses  of  Parliament  met  for  the  session  of  the  year 
1822-3,  to  the  eyes  of  intelligent  observers  an  extraordinary  scene  pre¬ 
sented  itself.  There,  on  one  side,  were  the  two  Houses,  constituting  ‘  the 
Imperial  Parliament,’  gaged  and  pledged,  as  deeply  and  solemnly  as  ever 
men  were  pledged  in  all  this  world,  to  set  the  currency  question  ‘  at  rest 
for  ever,’  as  far  as  extinction  of  all  Bank  notes  for  sums  under  five  pounds, 
and  the  payment  of  the  remainder  on  demand,  in  sovereigns  coined  out  of 
gold  at  the  rate  of  3Z.  17s.  10^<i.  per  ounce  troy,  could  set  it  at  rest;  and 
there,  on  the  other  side,  were  Mr.  Cobbett  and  his  readers,  with  their 
gridiron,  ready  either  to  repeat  upon  the  person  of  that  extraordinary 
man  the  sad  story  of  St.  Lawrence,  or  to  be  adopted  as  a  type  and  token 
of  the  triumph  of  his  principles,  as  to  this  grand  topic  for  ever  and  ever  ! 
At  this  period,  however,  Mr.  Cobbett  did  not  stand  so  much  alone  as  he 
did  at  the  time  of  his  hazarding  the  prediction,  with  all  its  penalties  an¬ 
nexed  to  it.  As  the  memorable  first  of  May,  1823,  drew  near,  the  country 
bankers,  as  well  as  the  Bank  of  England,  naturally  prepared  themselves 
by  a  gradual  narrowing  of  their  circulation,  for  the  dreaded  hour  of  gold 
and  silver  payments  ‘  on  demand,’  and  the  withdrawal  of  the  small  notes. 
We  have  already  seen  the  fall  in  prices  produced  by  this  universal  nar¬ 
rowing  of  the  paper  circulation.  The  effects  of  the  distress  produced  all 
over  the  country,  the  consequence  of  this  fall,  we  have  yet  to  see. 

“  The  distress,  ruin,  and  bankruptcy,  which  now  took  place  were  uni¬ 
versal,  affecting  both  the  great  interests  of  land  and  trade ;  but  amongst 
the  landlords  whose  estates  were  burthened  by  mortgages,  jointures,  set¬ 
tlements,  legacies,  etc.,  the  effects  were  most  marked  and  out  of  the  ordi¬ 
nary  course4.  In  hundreds  of  cases,  from  the  tremendous  reduction  in  the 
price  of  land  which  now  took  place,  the  estates  barely  sold  for  as  much 
as  would  pay  off  the  mortgages  ;  and  hence  the  owners  were  stripped  of 
all,  and  made  beggars.  I  was  myself  personally  acquainted  with  one  of 
the  victims  of  this  terrible  measure.  He  was  a  school-fellow,  and  in¬ 
herited  a  good  fortune,  made  principally  in  the  West  Indies.  On  coming 
of  age,  and  settling  with  his  guardians,  he  found  himself  possessed  of  fully 
forty  thousand  pounds  ;  and  with  this  he  resolved  to  purchase  an  estate, 
to  marry,  and  to  settle  for  life.  He  was  a  young  man  addicted  to  no  vice, 


9 


of  a  fair  understanding,  and  a  most  excellent  heart,  and  was  connected 
with  friends  high  in  rank  and  likely  to  afford  him  every  proper  assistance 
and  advice.  The  estate  was  purchased,  I  believe,  about  the  year  1812  or 
1813,  for  eighty  thousand  pounds,  one  moiety  of  the  purchase-money 
being  borrowed  on  mortgage  of  the  land  bought.  In  1822-3  he  was  com¬ 
pelled  to  part  with  the  estate  in  order  to  pay  off  his  mortgage  and  some 
arrears  of  interest ;  and  when  this  was  done  he  was  left  without  a  shilling, 
the  estate  bringing  only  half  of  its  cost  in  1812  !  Thus,  without  im¬ 
prudence  or  fault  of  any  kind,  was  this  amiable  man,  together  with  his 
family,  plunged  in  irretrievable  and  inevitable  ruin,  by  the  act  of  a  legis¬ 
lature  which  ought  to  have  protected  both,  and  which  was  fully  warned 
of  the  consequences  of  what  it  was  about  to  do  ;  but  which,  in  requital, 
chose  to  laugh  those  who  warned  to  utter  scorn.  My  readers  must  not 
suppose  that  this  was  either  an  exaggerated  or  uncommon  case.  On  the 
contrary,  the  country  teemed  with  similar  examples,  and  on  the  com¬ 
mencement  of  the  session  of  1823,  the  tables  of  both  Houses  were  loaded 
with  petitions,  detailing  scenes  of  hardship  and  destitution  appalling  in 
the  extreme.  As  a  sample  of  the  whole,  I  have  selected  one  wkick  most 
fully  exhibits  the  dreadful  effects  of  this  infatuated  measure  upon  the  wel¬ 
fare  and  happiness  of  the  community;  and  of  this  petition  I  here  insert 
as  complete  an  abstract  as  I  can  frame.  The  substance  of  this  very  ex¬ 
traordinary  document  was  as  follows.  It  was  presented  to  the  Commons 
by  Lord  Folkstone,  and  to  the  Lords  by  Earl  Stanhope. 

“  It  sets  forth — 

“  1.  That  the  petitioner,  having  contributed  both  in  purse  and  person  to 
the  maintenance  of  the  State,  had  a  right  to  expect  protection  of  person 
and  property  in  return  ;  but  that,  instead  of  this,  he  is  ruined  by  an  act  of 
the  parliament. 

“  2.  That  he  imputes  no  intentional  wrong-doing,  but  grievous  error  to 
the  Government ;  yet  he  hopes  the  Government  will  not  change  error  into 
injustice  by  persevering  in  it. 

“  3.  That  the  petitioner’s  ruin,  as  well  as  that  of  thousands  of  other 
persons,  arose  from  Peel’s  bill  for  returning  to  cash  payments  ;  but  that 
few  cases  can  exceed  his  in  hardship. 

“  4.  That  the  petitioner  and  his  father  were  wine  merchants,  and  made  a 
largo  fortune,  with  part  of  which,  in  1811  and  1812,  they  bought  land. 

“5.  That  they  bought  the  estate  of  Northaw,  in  Herefordshire,  for 
£62,000,  and  laid  out  £10,000  more  in  improvements,  investing  in  all 
£72,000. 

“  6.  That  in  1812  they  bargained  with  John  A.  Trenchard,  Doctor  of 
Divinity,  for  the  estate  of  Pontrylas,  for  which  they  agreed  to  give 
£60,000,  paying  £5555  as  a  deposit.  That  the  title  not  being  satisfactory 
the  result  was  a  suit  at  law,  which  was  not  decided  until  1819,  when  judg¬ 
ment  went  against  them,  awarding  a  gross  sum  of  £71,957  19s.  5 d.  to  Dr. 
Trenchard,  being  purchase-money  and  interest. 

“  7.  That  in  the  mean  time,  petitioners  had  experienced  heavy  losses 
in  trade,  and  could  not  pay  this  sum  ;  and,  therefore,  gave  Dr.  Trenchard 
a  mortgage  on  both  the  estates  of  Northaw  and  Pontrylas  for  £65,000. 

“  8.  That  after  1819,  when  the  suit  ended,  petitioner  and  his  father  paid 
£5000  in  part  of  the  debt,  and  £8000  interest  up  to  1821. 

“9.  That  on  the  suit  ending  in  1819,  they  received  up  to  1821,  out  of 
the  estate,  for  rent  and  wood,  £3410. 

“  10.  That  in  July,  1821,  the  two  estates. were  offered  for  sale,  but  would 
not  bring  the  sum  for  which  they  were  mortgaged. 

“11.  That  in  1821  petitioner  and  his  father  were  bankrupts. 

“12.  That  Dr.  Trenchard  then  got  possession  of  both  estates,  and  gave 
notice  to  foreclose  the  mortgage. 

“  13.  That  petitioner  and  his  father  thus  actually  paid  Trenchard 
£18,555,  and  have  only  received  out  of  the  estate  £3410 :  and  they  are 


10 


now  about  to  lose  both  the  estates  of  Pontrylas  and  Northaw ;  the  last  of 
which  cost  £72,000. 

“  14.  That  Trenchard,  on  the  other  hand,  has  received  in  cash  £18,555 
with  all  the  rents  of  Pontrylas  from  1812  to  1819,  and  that  he  is  now 
about  to  get  the  two  estates ,  with  all  arrears  of  rent  from  February  1820, 
in  lieu  of  his  debt  of  £60,000. 

“  15.  That  petitioner’s  assignees  are  praying  the  Court  of  Chancery  not 
to  al\ow  this  ;  for  that,  if  it  be  granted,  the  result  will  be  that  Dr.  Tren¬ 
chard  will  have  received  all  the  rents  and  profits  of  Pontrylas  estate,  ex¬ 
cept  for  two  years,  £1470  for  timber,  £18,555  in  cash  from  the  petitioner, 
and  in  addition  to  his  own  original  estate  of  Pontrylas,  he  will  also  have 
got  the  other  estate  of  Northaw ,  which  cost  £72,000. 

“  16.  That  petitioner  and  his  father  had  other  estates  in  Middlesex, 
Essex,  and  Hampshire,  which  cost  £36,000,  but  have  now  been  sold  for 
£12,000  !  That  by  the  depression  in  trade  they  became  bankrupts.  That 
petitioner’s  father  died  in  1822,  of  a  broken  heart,  and  that  he  is  himself 
a  ruined  man,  with  seven  children  of  his  own,  ten  of  his  brother’s,  and 
seven  of  his  sister’s,  all  depending  on  him. 

“  17.  That  petitioner,  therefore,  prays  for  an  equitable  adjustment  of 
this  and  all  similar  contracts. 

“This  petition  was  that  of  Charles  Andrew  Thompson,  of  Chiswick,  in 
the  county  of  Middlesex,  and  is  certainly  calculated  to  tear  in  pieces, 
almost,  the  heart  of  every  just  and  sensible  man  that  reads  it.  What 
effect  it  produced  upon  Peel,  Ricardo,  and  the  Houses  I  cannot  say;  but 
the  country  throughout  was  in  a  state  of  deep  agitation,  and  remonstrance 
after  remonstrance  poured  in  upon  the  legislature.  At  last  Mr.  Western, 
one  of  the  members  for  Essex,  a  man  of  good  talents,  gave  notice  of  a 
motion  for  ‘inquiry’  into  the  state  of  the  country,  and  into  the  distress 
that  now  seemed  to  threaten  a  convulsion.  This  notice  probably  decided 
the  ministers.  Mr.  Western’s  motion  could  not  be  stopped.  It  was, 
therefore,  met  and  negatived,  after  a  long  debate  of  three  or  four  nights, 
in  which  a  determination  amongst  the  landed  interest  to  have  an  equitable 
adjustment  of  public  as  well  as  private  contracts  (including,  of  course,  the 
debt),  was  more  than  hinted  at.  The  negative  vote,  however,  was  only 
obtained  by  a  total  virtual  ‘  throwing  overboard’  of  Peel’s  bill.  A  short 
act  was  hastily  smuggled,  in  silence,  through  the  Houses,  which  enacted  a 
respite  (as  the  Houses  fondly  deemed)  of  the  one  and  two  pound  notes  for 
eleven  years.  The  rest  of  Peel’s  bill  as  to  cash  payments,  etc.,  was  left  in 
full  force  ;  but  still  the  prediction  of  Mr.  Cobbett  was  really  fulfilled.” 

The  Bank  of  England  at  the  time  declined  to  avail  itself  of  the 
privilege  of  reissuing  one  and  two  pound  notes,  maintained  its  circu¬ 
lation  throughout  1823  at  what  it  had  been  in  1822,  contracted  its 
loans  still  further  in  1823  and  1824,  increasing  them,  however,  in  1825. 
In  December  of  this  latter  year  an  almost  unparalleled  crisis  arose,  in 
the  midst  of  which  the  accidental  discovery  of  a  box  containing  a 
quantity  of  one  pound  notes,  enabled  the  Bank,  by  their  use  “  at  the 
lucky  moment,”  in  the  words  of  one  of  the  directors,  to  “save  the 
credit  of  the  country,”  and,  it  may  be  added,  to  prevent  the  complete 
drain  of  the  institution  of  its  “  specie  basis.” 

Decline  in  the  Public  Revenues. 

But  this  distress  was  not  alone  confined  to  the  people,  but  extended 
to  the  public  exchequer.  While  from  1816  to  1822  inclusive,  the 
money  annually  applied  to  the  reduction  of  the  public  debt  averaged 
over  £16,000,000,  in  1823  it  fell  to  £7,482,325,  and  never  again  rose 


11 


above  thatamount  except  in  1824,  when  it  was  £10/625, 059,  after  which 
it  steadily  fell,  reaching  £5606  in  1832,  with  a  deficiency  of  £12,000,000 
in  the  six  years  from  1837  to  1842  inclusive.  Indeed  since  reaching 
a  “  specie  basis”  in  1823,  Great  Britain  has  practically  ceased  to  pay  off 
her  public  debt,  and  to  this  end  must  we  ourselves  unquestionably  come 
should  our  government  be  guilty  of  the  folly  now  urged  upon  it  by 
“  a  combination  of  usurers”  (whom  Lord  Chatham  characterized  as 
the  cannibals  of  Change  Alley )  “and  theorists,  one  all  selfishness  and 
the  other  all  crotchets.” 

In  this  connection  we  commend  to  the  thoughtful  consideration  of 
the  people,  of  Congress,  and  of  the  Executive  government,  including  the 
President,  the  following  words  of  a  recent  able  English  financial  writer 
and  prominent  business  man  :  “  To  ws,”  says  the  author  of  “  The  Bank 
Charter  Act  and  the  Bate  of  Interest,”*  “  it  is  indeed  a  melancholy 
reflection,  and  one  withal  worthy  of  grave  pondering,  that  when  the 
United  States  shall  return  again  to  a  convertible  currency,  the  liqui¬ 
dation  of  this  national  debt  must  cease.  Our  own  Sinking  Fund,  de¬ 
vised  for  a  similar  object,  we  know,  ceased  to  receive  any  important 
payments  after  the  abrogation  of  the  Bank  Restriction  Act.  No 
currency,  doubtless,  but  one  that  was  able  to  sustain  a  great  war , 
need  be  expected  to  liquidate  its  cost.” 

“Current  Money  of  the  Bealm.” 

Control  over  the  circulating  medium — “  the  current  money  of  the 
realm” — is  one  of  the  high  prerogatives  of  government,  and  one 
which  can  never  safely  be  delegated  ;  but  inseparably  connected  with 
this  prerogative  is  the  solemn  duty  of  providing  a  currency  both  good 
in  quality  and  sufficient  in  amount — neither  more  nor  less  than  is 
required  by  the  people.  If  this  principle  be  recognized,  it  is  manifest 
that  no  government  does  its  duty  by  its  people  which  forces  upon  them 
the  “  specie  basis”  because  arbitrarily  making  them  dependent  upon 
one  of  the  scarcest  commodities  in  the  world,  the  supply  of  which  is 
totally  inadequate  to  the  wants  of  mankind,  which  no  country  can 
command  at  pleasure,  and  for  which  a  struggle  is  always  taking  place 
among  the  nations  ;  it  results  in  instability,  and  the  placing  of  the 
people  at  the  mercy  of  those  foreign  nations  which  have  the  power  to 
draw  this  “basis”  from  under  them.f  In  a  word,  the  government 

*  London :  Simpkin,  Marshall  &  Co.,  1873. 

f  The  utter  unreliability  of  the  President’s  “basis”  as  a  foundation  for  a 
state  of  civilized  society  with  its  immense  activities  and  its  precious  interests,  is 
completely  demonstrated  by  the  following  statement  from  the  London  Times  of 
October  25,  1873,  of  the  desperate  struggle  then  taking  plaee  in  Europe  and 
elsewhere,  to  acquire  or  retain  enough  “  specie  bads”  to  support  the  super¬ 
structure  of  credit  which  kings,  emperors,  and  parliaments  have  time  out  of 
mind  either  ignorantly  or  criminally  forced  their  subjects  to  build  upon.  The 
Times  says  : — 

“  The  fact  that,  owing  to  the  inherent  soundness  of  our  mercantile  con¬ 
dition,  we  constitute  the  centre  to  which  almost  all  other  countries  are  look¬ 
ing  for  relief,  renders  the  immediate  future  more  uncertain  than  at  any  pre¬ 
vious  period.  We  have  sent  nearly  three  millions  sterling  to  the  United 
States  and  Canada  ;  Germany  and  Austria  have  deluged  us  with  securities 
which  the  speculators  of  Berlin  and  Vienna  have  found  themselves  unable 
to  retain  ;  Spain  has  not  only  made  default  in  the  heavy  amount  due  us  but 
has  obtained  by  a  number  of  expedients  some  rather  serious  advances; 


12 


elaiming  the  prerogative  of  furnishing  11  the  current  money  of  the 
realm,”  and  thus  acting,  forces  its  unhappy  people  to  use  a  commodity, 
the  supply  of  which  it  makes  no  attempt  and  indeed  possesses  no 
power  whatsoever  to  insure  to  those  people.  In  such  a  case  the  ques¬ 
tion  ceases  to  be  merely  one  of  a  duty  to  its  people,  performed  or  un¬ 
performed.  The  government  so  offending  is  guilty  of  clear  and  manifest 
injustice,  of  downright  tyranny  ! 

“  Money  should  be  a  thing  of  or  belonging  to  a  country,  not  of  or 
belongingto  the  world,  ”  and  the  indebtedness  of  a  great  nation  is  thebest 
form  which  can  be  embodied  into  a  circulating  medium  for  its  people. 
If  issued  as  “current  money  of  the  realm”  by  a  responsible  govern¬ 
ment  like  our  own,  it  possesses  those  elements  which  most  give  value 
to  gold,  and  being  national  and  not  cosmopolitan,  is  a  basis  for  which 
there  is  no  competition  on  the  part  of  other  nations.  But  it  should 
not  be  furnished  arbitrarily  in  amount,  but  made  issuable  as  well  as 
fundable  at  the  pleasure  of  the  holders  of  the  government  debt — 3-65 
bonds,  for  instance,  interchangeable  with  currency — for  in  the  words  of 
The  New  York  Mercantile  Journal  : — 

“  In  the  Interchangeability  ( at  the  option  of  the  holder)  of  NA¬ 
TIONAL  PAPER  MONEY  with  Government  Bonds  bearing  a 
FIXED  RATE  OF  INTEREST ’,  there  is  a  subtle  principle  that 
will  regulate  the  movements  of  Finance  and  Commerce  as  accu¬ 
rately  as  the  motion  of  the  Steam  Engine  is  regulated  by  its 
1  GOVERNOR!  Such  PAPER  MONEY  TOKENS  would  be 
much  nearer  perfect  measures  of  value  than  Gold  and  Silver  ever 
have  been,  or  ever  can  be.  The  use  of  Gold,  or  other  merchandise, 
as  money,  is  a  barbarism  unworthy  of  the  age .” 

Turkey  and  Egypt  are  in  the  midst  of  endeavors  to  place  the  most  extensive 
loans  they  have  ever  yet  contracted,  and  the  operators  on  the  Paris  Bourse, 
by  whom  many  of  the  largest  recent  financial  commitments  have  been  en¬ 
couraged,  are  now  seeking  to  shift  tlieir  load  ;  while  in  the  midst  of  all  the 
pressure  thus  created  large  masses  of  our  own  population,  so  utterly  defi¬ 
cient  in  prudential  inclinations  as  to  be  indifferent  to  the  attractions  of  7 
per  cent,  or  any  other  rate  of  interest,  have  month  by  month  absorbed  ma¬ 
terial  portions  of  such  gold  supplies  as  have  been  made.  It  is  true  that  the 
securities  thus  forced  upon  us,  and  the  gold  thus  internally  absorbed,  con¬ 
stitute  a  reserve  of  national  wealth  which  at  some  future  day  may  help  to 
develop  another  period  of  plethora  ;  but  as  there  is  a  limit  to  the  amount 
we  can  buy  of  the  securities  which  the  needs  of  distressed  nations  may 
throw  upon  us,  as  well  as  to  the  amount  of  gold  we  can  scatter  among  those 
classes  who  shorten  their  productive  labor  just  in  proportion  to  their  scat¬ 
tering,  there  must  come  a  time  when  this  limit  will  be  made  known  by  the 
rate  charged  for  the  use  of  the  money  which  all  are  so  eager  to  obtain. 
Whether  7  per  cent,  will  be  sufficient  must  remain  doubtful  so  long  as  each 
day  brings  us  consignments  of  stocks  and  shares  from  the  Continental  Bourses, 
and  the  New  York  telegrams  fail  by  decisive  exchange  quotations  to  stop 
the  gold  tide  thither.  Last  week  it  appeared  as  if  the  capitalists  of  Berlin 
were  taking  heart  to  buy  back  some  of  their  recent  sales,  but  the  indication 
was  only  momentary,  and  if  a  rise  which  seems  to  be  contemplated  by  the 
Berlin  National  Bank  in  its  rate  of  discount  should  occur,  together  with  the 
taking  of  still  more  severe  measures  by  the  Bank  of  France,  renewed  sacri¬ 
fices  may  become  essential.” 

When  silver  shall  have  been  fully  demonetized,  throughout  the  world,  ex¬ 
cept  for  subsidiary  coinage,  the  struggle  for  gold,  the  production  of  which 
has  declined  since  1863,  will  be  still  more  fierce,  and  the  “basis”  conse¬ 
quently  more  ticklish. 


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EMBRACING 

LATHE  WORK,  VISE  WORK,  DRILLS  AND  DRILLING,  TAPS  AND 
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CONTENTS. 

Chapter  I.  Lathe  and  Machine  Tools. — Round-Nosed  Tools;  Square-Nosed  Tools; 
Holding  Tools  ;  Side  Tools  for  Iron  ;  Front  Tool  for  Brass  Work  ;  Side  Tool  for  Brass  Work. 
II.  Cutting  Speed  and  Feed. — Tables  of  Cutting  Speeds  and  Feeds;  Table  for  Steel; 
Table  for  Wrought-Iron  ;  Table  for  Cast-Iron;  Table  for  Brass;  Table  for  Copper.  III. 
Boring  Tools  for  Lathe  Work. — Boring  Tool  for  Brass  ;  Boring  Tool  Holders.  IV.  Screw- 
Cutting  Tools. — Hand  Chasing  ;  To  Make  a  Chaser  ;  To  Calculate  the  Gear-Wheels  neces¬ 
sary  to  cut  a  Thread  in  a  Lathe.  V.  General  Observations  on  Lathe  Work. — H.  S. 
Manning  &  Co.’s  Lathe  Dogs  and  Drivers  ;  Emery  Grinders  ;  H.  S.  Manning  &  Co.’s  Centre¬ 
ing  Machine  ;  Lathe  Work  ;  Emery  Cloth  and  Paper.  VI.  Turning  Eccentrics. — Turning 
Cranks;  To  Chuck  a  Crosshead  ;  Turning  Pistons  and  Rods;  Piston  Rings ;  Ball  Turning  ; 
Cone  Plate  for  Boring  in  the  Lathe  ;  To  Turn  a  Pulley  ;  Turning  and  Fitting  Tapers  ;  Belts  ; 
Oiling  and  Greasing  of  Belts;  Directions  for  Calculating  the  Width  of  Belts  required  for 
Transmitting  Different  Numbers  of  Horse-Power;  Directions  for  Calculating  the  Number  of 
Horse-Power  which  a  Belt  will  Transmit;  its  Velocity  and  the  Number  of  Square  Inches  in 
Contact  with  the' Smallest  Pulley  being  Known.  VII.  Hand  Turning. — Roughing  Out ;  The 
Graver;  The  Heel  Tool;  Brass  Work;  Scrapers;  Lathe  Chucks.  VIII.  Drilling  in  the 
Lathe. — Half-Round  Bits  ;  Cutters;  Reamers;  Shell  Reamers.  IX.  Boring  Bars. — Small 
Boring  Bars.  X.  Laps. — Allowance  for  Shrinkage  ;  Crank  Pins  ;  Chucking  Brasses  :  Slot¬ 
ting  Machine  Tools.  XI.  Twist  Drills. — Feeding  Drills  ;  Drills  and  Drilling — Flat  Drills  ; 
Drilling  Hard  Metals;  Slotting  or  Keyway  Drills;  Pin  Drills;  Countersink  Drills.  XII. 
Tool  Steel. — Forging  Tools;  Tool  Hardening  and  Tempering;  Hardening;  To  Harden 
Springs  ;  Case  Hardening  Wrought  Iron  ;  To  Case-Harden  Cast  Iron  ;  To  Harden  Malleable 
Iron;  The  Crystallization  of  Wrought  Iron  ;  The  Wear  of  Metal  Surfaces:  Annealing  or 
Softening;  Mixtures  of  Metals.  XIII.  Taps  and  Dies. — Adjustable  Dies;  Dies  for  Use  in 
Hand  Stocks.  XIV.  Vise  Work — Tools. — Calipers;  The  Square;  The  Scribing  Block; 
Chipping  ;  Filing;  Emery  Paper  ;  Tools  for  Scraping  Surfaces  ;  Vise  Clamps ;  Pening;  Fit¬ 
ting  Brasses  to  their  Boxes  ;  Fitting  Link  Motions  ;  Fitting  Cylinders  ;  Scraped  Surfaces  ; 
To  Make  a  Surface  Plate;  To  Cut  Hard  Saw  Blades  ;  To  Refit  Leaky  Plugs  to  their  Cooks  ; 
Refitting  Work  by  Shrinking  it;  To  Estimate  the  Weight  of  a  Casting  from  the  Weight  of 
the  Pattern  ;  Grades  and  Speeds  for  Emery  Wheels  ;  Threads  of  Gas  or  Steam  Pipes ;  Steam 
and  Water  Joints  ;  To  Make  Spiral  Springs  ;  Hardening;  Tempering.  XV.  Fitting  Con¬ 
necting  Rods. — Drifts;  Reverse  Key«.  XVI.  Milling  Machines  and  Milling  Tools. 
XVII.  To  Calculate  the  Speed  of  Wheels,  Pulleys,  etc. — XVIII.  The  Slide  Valve. 
— Movements  of  Piston  and  Crank  ;  Steam  Supply  ;  To  Measure  the  Throw  of  an  Eccentric. 
XIX.  How  to  Set  a  Slide  Valve. — XX.  Pumps. — Suction  Pumps ;  Force  Pumps;  Piston 
Pumps. — Index. 

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